It's fitting that Cleveland-area singer/songwriter Tom Evanchuck began his set last Friday night at the Mez with a song about a train station. The Mez's gorgeous architecture, with its brick archways and vaguely antiquated ambiance, made the perfect setting for Evanchuck's evocations of the past. Not only that, but with six people in attendance - including venue owner, sound guy, opening act, opening act's significant other, and Evanchuck's manager - the gig felt a lot like being at a small-town station with a long time to wait before the train arrives, where you just have to suspend time to make the best of it.

Which is exactly what Evanchuck did. A trooper who played to the very best of his talents until the very last minute he was allowed to play, Evanchuck treated the small audience to an intimate and inspiring performance. (A large crowd showed for his Saturday appearance.) Barely 20 years old, Evanchuck clearly feels most at home playing old folk music - "really old," as he explained between songs. While Evanchuck's up-tempo finger-picking style immediately brings to mind the Appalachian roots music that has become engrained in our cultural DNA, his youthful appearance (and US Marine Corps t-shirt) felt strangely incongruous with the tales of dirt roads and having Bob Dylan's "worried blues."

Evanchuck proved how old-fashioned he really is when he introduced a song about a woman coming on too strong. Perhaps reading the crowd's mind, he mentioned that an audience member once yelled, "What's wrong with that?" And his songs concluded quickly and gracefully, almost as if it would be impolite to go on for too long at a time. Nonetheless, if his style recalls the past, his voice - a cross between electro-crooner David Gray and local roots sensation Alan Whitney - sounds startlingly contemporary. With it, he maintained a crystalline, almost unbelievable level of clarity the entire night. He concluded with a cover of Neil Young's "Vampire Blues" that managed to be austere and lively and filled with the blues all at once.

Much like Tom Evanchuck, bluesman John Hammond got hooked on an ancient musical tradition as a youngster. He was 7 years old, in fact, as he explained at Sunday night's Hot Blues for the Homeless benefit and tribute to Son House at Water Street Music Hall. "I got to play with Son House," Hammond said, "which doesn't give me any credentials whatsoever." Maybe not, but Hammond did demonstrate the undiminishable power of a guitar, a harmonica, and your voice. With his knack for unadorned, naked melody, Hammond's love for the music charged his performance, a quality he shares with Evanchuck. In their way, both performers proved that blues and folk ultimately belong to everyone, regardless of age.